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Many of us have heard of Initial Coin Offerings – or ICOs – a new way for businesses to go directly to the public to raise revenue. Over twenty billion dollars in ICO funding were raised in the US in the last six months of 2017, and new ICOs are being announced every day.

Last year, while planning an ICO, cryptocurrency expert Mark Jeffrey joked that one day we’d all have our own cryptocurrency:

Taking Mark’s quip at face value, I penned a column for The Register (linked here) that asked a basic question: if an advertiser is willing to pay a television broadcaster or web publisher for my eyeballs, shouldn’t I be able to sell my attention directly to whomever is willing to pay for it:

The value of our attention varies by task. Some of us have very expensive attention, at least some of the time, because we’ve spent years growing our expertise. Personal cryptocurrencies complete the great project of the gig economy, allowing us to offer a price for ourselves in every market, at every task, in real time.

The more I thought about it, the more sense it made: All attention is not created equal. My value as a television viewer is only a tiny fraction of my value as a futurist, educator, or broadcaster. If people want my attention in the areas of my expertise, I expect them to pay top dollar for that.

The math of my professional attention seems straightforward:

I work at least 225 days a year (45 weeks), eight hours a day;

I bill at $500 an hour, or $125 per fifteen minutes;

There are 7200 of these intervals across a calendar year.

These 7200 units of attention-time can be represented by a token. All I need do is create these token, and offer them to folks who want my professional attention.

With that, the world’s first Professional Attention Token – the Mark Pesce Token (MPT) was born.

The MPT is an exciting opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the cryptocurrency revolution with the world’s first PAT – Professional Attention Token.

Obverse and reverse of the Mark Pesce Token

What is a ‘Professional Attention Token’?

A professional attention token is a way for a professional to reach a broader market of customers – removing much of the friction of making a sale.

The MPT Professional Attention Token is nothing like an ICO (“initial coin offering”) because it is backed up by labor, and the purchase sits safely in an escrow account – where it can be immediately refunded. Each token is equivalent to fifteen minutes of professional services. MPT has real-world value – which is more than can be said for many ICO tokens.

7200 MPTs will be created during the initial offering; a limited number of these offered sale to the public. MPTs can be redeemed by the bearer at any point within five years after purchase.

What is the MPT?

The Mark Pesce Token, or MPT, represents a specific amount (15 minutes) of my professional attention.

Technically, these tokens are implemented as ‘smart contracts’ on a blockchain, guaranteeing that they can not be forged, and you can always prove that you own your token(s).

How much does MPT cost?

A limited number of MPT will be offered for sale at AUD $125 per token for overseas purchasers and with GST included for Australian purchasers at $137.50.

Will there be a private sale/pre-sale of tokens?

Yes, starting immediately — and at a significant discount. Please contact me if you are interested in a private/pre-sale of Mark Pesce Tokens.

What can an MPT be used for?

An MPT can be redeemed for 15 minutes of my professional attention – subject to the restrictions spelled out in detail on the Smart contract page. Multiple MPT can be redeemed at once. Professional attention can be purchased for as long as needed.

Redemption occurs when the bearer of an MPT and I agree on a time when I will deliver my professional services.

The MPT does not include the costs of any travel or materials, but by mutual agreement additional MPT can be redeemed to cover those costs.

Is this legal?

It’s no different than agreeing to do work for a client, and being paid in advance for that work.

What are the rules?

Why are you doing this?

With the explosion in cryptocurrencies and other innovative blockchain fintech means of doing business, it’s easy to imagine a time not far in the future where there are tens or even hundreds of millions of dedicated cryptocurrencies and tokens utilising a myriad of new financial technologies. Every business of any size will use their own, and ask their customers to use them. That same capacity will eventually extend to the individual – particularly those who, like myself, provide professional services.

It’s easy to imagine a legal firm, medical practice or consultancy developing their own personal currencies for their own employees and partners – particularly for those in greatest demand – letting client need drive the price for the attentions of a particular person. In that, it’s just like Uber’s ‘surge pricing’ – but for individuals!

Over the next several years we’ll see marketplaces for all of these millions of coins, where sophisticated software will work out how much my time is worth when compared with yours. That’ll mostly be invisible to us, but it will help us to realise as the full value of our labour, and that can only be a good thing.